1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a machine for rolling up relatively short lengths of carpet used as temporary runners. In many public buildings, during wet weather, carpet runners or mats are laid on the floor immediately inside of entrances to absorb most of the water and pick up most of the dirt carried in from the outside. This prevents the water and dirt from being carried throughout the building, into elevators, etc., and greatly facilitates the maintenance of building lobbies, hallways, and the like. These carpet runners quickly become soiled and are then laundered and rolled for use when next needed. The present invention is directed to a machine for facilitating rolling up carpet runners after laundering, particularly narrow runners of about 2 to 4 feet in width, the size in most common use.
2. The Prior Art
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,644 discloses a basic machine for rolling carpet runners or mats after laundering. That machine, adapted for rolling carpet lengths up to about 6 feet in width, is characterized by at least a pair of spaced apart parallel rollers supporting a series of endless parallel spaced apart belts for movement in a horizontal plane to carry the carpet to be rolled to a further series of a plurality of endless parallel spaced apart belts supported for movement in a generally vertical plane and alternating with the horizontally supported belts.
The machine of my prior patent is further characterized by at least one concave forwardly facing arcuate guide plate supported at the juncture between the two series of belts to direct the leading edge of a horizontally moving carpet runner vertically into engagement with the vertically movable belts.
The present invention is directed to an improved carpet rolling machine of the type of my earlier patent, especially adapted to the rolling of narrower widths of carpet runners, which, among other features, eliminates the need for the arcuate guide plate.